Five D Thoroughbreds & Wind River Stables’ Kathmanblu,
making her first start on dirt as a 3-year-old, established herself as a
serious contender for the Grade I Kentucky Oaks with a convincing
1 ¼-length win over Donver Stables’ Inglorious in Saturday’s Grade III Rachel Alexandra Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans.

The $150,000 Rachel Alexandra is the second in a three-race series for 3-year-old fillies which culminates with the March
26 Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks, six weeks prior to the May 6 Kentucky Oaks.

Kathmanblu and jockey
Julien Leparoux raced
behind the early leaders down the backstretch, shifted out into the
stretch and closed steadily, taking the lead near the eighth-pole and
edging away. Inglorious broke a few steps slow but saved
ground and closed well to get second, three-quarters of a length in
front of Wayne R. Sanders & Larry Hirsch’s
Gran Lioness, who had set the early fractions of 24.83 and 49.27.

“She relaxed very nice in the first turn and she got it done,” Leparoux said. “I got a clean trip and that was important.”

The
final time was 1:45.13 for 1 1/16 miles. Kathmanblu, by Bluegrass Cat
out of the Devil’s Bag mare Abba Gold, raised her earnings to $470,731
with her fifth win in eight starts.

“She’s all class,” said winning trainer
Ken McPeek, who won two
stakes on the afternoon. “I think she is a lot better than she ran
today. We were a little conservative with her with her workouts coming
into the race. There’s a lot of time between now and
the Kentucky Oaks and that is obviously the bigger goal.”

McPeek
declined to speculate about Kathmanblu’s next start, aside from
throwing out the names of three logical possibilities: the Fair Grounds
Oaks, the Gulfstream Oaks and Keeneland’s Ashland Stakes.

The order of finish was completed by
Bouquet Booth, Chloe Kate and
Tapit Dancer.

The odds-one favorite, Kathmanblu paid $3.20, $2.20 and $2.10, while Inglorious returned $3 and $2.60 and Gran Lioness was
worth $2.60.

Kathmanblu did what she had to do but was hardly scintilating and will have to run much faster to be considered a serious Oaks threat. For comparison purposes, the Mineshaft was run in 1:43.45 (99 BSF), the Risen Star in 1:43.98 (94 BSF), and the Rachel Alexandra in 1:45.13.